During the month of December 2013, the following exceptions to the recruitment and consultancy freeze have been considered by the Chief Executive, in his capacity as Accounting Officer:

| Approval date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy / recruitment | Decision | |---------------|------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|----------| | 06/12/2013 | 318 RME | Extension to Senior Economist post (original ref: 296 RME) | Recruitment | Approved | | 06/12/2013 | 320 RPP | Approval to Recruit - Operations Advisor | Recruitment | Approved | | 06/12/2013 | 324 RME | Understanding the Rolling Stock Costs of Train Operating Companies in the UK, £70,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 06/12/13 | 325 RME | Feasibility of compiling a dataset of European Train Operating Companies (TOCs), £30,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 12/12/13 | 329 EA | Approval to Recruit Temporary Grade F | Recruitment | Approved | | 18/12/13 | 331 RME | The Practicalities of Scarcity Charging, £60,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 18/12/13 | 332 RME | Evidence Gathering on PR08 incentive regime, £60,000 | Consultancy | Approved | Requests for consultancy valued at \<£20,000 considered by the Director of Corporate Operations:

| Date | Reference | Description | Type | Status | |------------|-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------| | 06/12/2013 | 327 RPP | Methodology review of ORR rail fares index, £10,770 | Consultancy| Approved| | 13/12/2013 | 328 RSD | Survey on ORR’s occupational health programme 2010-14, £19,800 | Consultancy| Approved|